Cryptsetup 2.8: 30/06/2025 The Cryptsetup 2.8 utility set has been published. It is designed to configure encryption of disk partitions in Linux using the dm-crypt module. It supports dm-crypt, LUKS, LUKS2, BITLK, loop-AES and TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt partitions. The set also includes the veritysetup and integritysetup utilities for configuring data integrity control based on the dm-verity and dm-integrity modules. https://lore.kernel.org/cryptsetup/9df154c5-c3d1-43d9-9b76-986c7c7ebc0a@gmail.com/T/

Ubuntu to ship intel-compute-runtime without Spectre protection that reduces performance by 20%: 30/06/2025 Ubuntu has decided to switch by default to the intel-compute-runtime package, compiled with the NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS flag, which disables protection against Spectre attacks. According to Ubuntu developers, the presence of this protection leads to a decrease in the package's performance by about 20%. The intel-compute-runtime package includes components required to use OpenCL and OneAPI Level Zero on systems with Intel GPUs. When building the libraries supplied in the package, the presence of the NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS build flag results in disabling the “-mretpoline -mindirect-branch=thunk -mfunction-return=thunk -mindirect-branch-register” compiler options, which provide additional protection against Spectre. These options do not affect the performance of OpenCL and GPU-side operations, but reduce the overhead of executing the code responsible for the API. Security engineers at Intel and Canonical have discussed the need for Spectre mitigation at the Compute Runtime level, as the required mitigation is already present at the kernel level. The Spectre mitigation present in the Compute Runtime is of interest mainly to those running kernels without proper mitigation, and the benefit does not outweigh the performance penalty. Additionally, Intel's releases of the Intel Graphics Compute Runtime are built with the NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS flag set by default, which disables the mitigation. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2110131

Third preview release of Pidgin 3.0 messenger: 01/07/2025 The third experimental release of the instant messaging client, Pidgin 3.0 (2.92) is presented. The release is marked as a pre-alpha version, not intended for everyday use. The builds are prepared in Flatpak format ( only the archive with the code is available for now ). The most notable improvement in the new version is the addition of the Appearance, Privacy, and Development sections to the configurator. The Appearance section offers an option to display message formatting elements. The Privacy section allows you to disable sending data for indicating text input. The Development section provides the ability to activate the developer mode, which simplifies debugging plugins and provides access to features that are still in development, such as support for the Bonjour and XMPP protocols. https://discourse.imfreedom.org/t/pidgin-3-0-0-experimental-3-2-92-1-has-been-released/296

Steam Client for Linux Updated: 01/07/2025 Valve has released the June update to the Steam game delivery service client for Linux. The release is notable for the inclusion of the Proton package by default for launching games that do not have a native Linux build. Previously, this feature required separately activating the “Enable SteamPlay for other titles” option in the settings. Also, the Linux version has sped up the installation of updates, which in some cases took minutes and is now completed in a few seconds. General improvements include a reduction in Steam Client startup time for players with a very large number of games not added via Steam. A system for tracking game performance has been implemented, displayed as an in-game overlay and showing detailed information about frame rate, CPU consumption and GPU performance. In this release, all the features of monitoring mode, is available for Windows only and for Linux it is already available, but with a minimum number of features. These features are promised to be included for Linux in one of the next updates. The number of Linux games available in the Steam catalog has been increased to 16,139. ​​According to the Steam Database service, Linux users launch 4,025 games through Steam. The top five games most popular with Linux users are: Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Banana, Stardew Valley, Team Fortress 2. https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/500577186633220572

Release of boot firmware CoreBoot 25.06, Libreboot 25.06 and Canoeboot 25.06: 02/07/2025 The CoreBoot 25.06 project, that develops a free alternative to proprietary firmware and BIOS, has been released. The project code is distributed under the GPLv2 license. The new version includes 879 changes prepared with the participation of 128 developers. https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/releases/tag/25.06

GNOME 49 changes: 02/07/2025 The GNOME release team has approved the inclusion of a new document viewer, Papers, into the core GNOME distribution. Starting with GNOME 49, Papers will replace Evince as the default document viewer under the name Document Viewer. The changes to replace Evince with Papers have already been accepted into the GNOME repository. Ubuntu 25.04 already ships Papers instead of Evince. The Papers application is a fork of Evince, created a year ago by one of the participants in the development of the evince-next branch with the aim of significantly modernizing the code base. The thing with Papers was porting to the GTK4 library using Rust for development. Significant differences also include a significant modernization of the design, increased performance and the integration of tools for certifying documents with a digital signature. Papers is similar in functionality to Evince and also allows viewing, searching and annotating documents in PDF, DjVu, TIFF and comic book archives (CBR, CBT, CBZ, CB7). At the same time, Papers has cleaned up the API of the libppsdocument and libppsview libraries, and has stopped supporting the DVI format and the Windows platform. Many internal Evince widgets have been replaced with standard GTK widgets. The use of the background process papersd has been discontinued. Instead of manually reloading a document, this operation is now performed automatically when a file change is detected. A separate panel with tools for adding annotations has been removed, and they recommend you use the context menu or hotkeys instead. https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Releng/AppOrganization/-/issues/24%23note_2487019

Perl 5.42 is available: 02/07/2025 After a year of development, a new stable branch of the Perl programming language, 5.42, has been released. In preparing the new release, about 280,000 lines of code were changed, the changes affected 1,500 files, and 64 developers took part in the development. The 5.42 branch is released in accordance with the fixed development schedule approved twelve years ago, which publishes the release of new stable branches once a year and correction releases every three months. In about a month, the first correction release of Perl 5.42.1 is planned to be released, which will fix the most significant bugs discovered during the implementation of Perl 5.42.0. Along with the release of Perl 5.42, support for the 5.38 branch has ended, and updates for it may be released in the future only if critical security issues are discovered. The development of the experimental 5.43 branch has begun, based on the stable release. Perl 5.44 will be formed in June 2026, unless a decision is made to switch to 7.x numbering. https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2025/07/msg270067.html

Work on the Copyleft-next license has resumed: 03/07/2025 Bradley M. Kuhn, founder of the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and former director of the Free Software Foundation, and Richard Fontana, one of the three key authors of the GPLv3 license (the other two being Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen) and former director of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), have announced the resumption of work on the Copyleft-next license. Development of the new license began in 2012 under the name GPL.next, but the project has not been developed since 2016. The goal of the project is to develop a new generation copyleft license that will replace the GPLv3 license and take into account modern realities and the needs of corporations developing free projects. It is noted that the GPLv3 license is 18 years old, and GPLv2 is 34 years old, and during this time the community has felt the need to reconsider the use of hard copyleft. The Copyleft-next license text is based on the GPLv3 license, stripped of unnecessary clutter and restrictions, which improved compatibility with permissive licenses and made it portable to Apache-licensed projects. The license has been significantly shortened and simplified for understanding (for example, the introduction with the FOSS Foundation's policy, the appendix with explanations of application, and references to redundant and obsolete compromises have been removed). One of the fundamental differences from existing copyleft licenses was the “Copyleft Sunset” clause, which cancels the conditions for copyleft compliance 15 years after the first publication of a work under the Copyleft-next license. In particular, after 15 years, the license becomes permissive, since clauses 3-5 cease to be effective with requirements for distributing derivative products under the Copyleft-next license, prohibiting the imposition of additional restrictions, and mandatory availability of the source code when distributing binary assemblies. Another atypical innovation is the cancellation of copyleft protection in the case of dual licensing of a project - under a Copyleft-next license and a commercial license. If the product is additionally supplied under a commercial license or under conditions that contradict the criteria of the OSI or the FOSS Foundation, then in the free version of the product, points 3-5, which ensure copyleft protection of the work, cease to apply (the license becomes permissive). Copyleft-next also offers the ability to revoke a license if the terms of use are violated (for example, if a derivative product is distributed without providing access to the source code). You have 13 days to correct the violation. The license is also revoked from persons who have initiated a lawsuit for patent infringement (except for counterclaims) that intersect with a project under the Copyleft-next license. https://lists.copyleft.org/pipermail/next/2025q2/000000.html

Angie 1.10.0 released: 04/07/2025 The high-performance HTTP server and multi-protocol proxy server Angie 1.10.0 has been released. It was forked from Nginx by a group of former project developers who left F5 Network. The Angie source code is available under the BSD license. The development is supported by the company “Web-server”, founded in the fall of 2022 and having received investments of 1 million dollars. Among the co-owners of the Web-server company: Valentin Bartenev (leader of the team that developed the Nginx Unit product), Ivan Poluyanov (former head of front-end developers of Rambler and Mail.Ru), Oleg Mamontov (head of the technical support team of NGINX Inc) and Ruslan Ermilov (ru@FreeBSD.org). https://github.com/webserver-llc/angie/releases/tag/Angie-1.10.0

KDE is developing its own virtual keyboard: 05/07/2025 Nate Graham, a quality assurance developer for the KDE project, has published another KDE development report. The report mentions the KDE project's development of a new on-screen keyboard called plasma-keyboard, which is being developed to replace the Maliit virtual keyboard currently used on mobile devices and touchscreen systems. Plasma-keyboard is based on the code of the Qt Virtual Keyboard included in Qt, expanded with features for integration with the Plasma desktop and solving some usability issues. In the recent changes, the implementation of its own keyboard design style named “Breeze” and the use of a new scaling algorithm, which improved the display of the keyboard on narrow screens, are noted. https://blogs.kde.org/2025/07/05/this-week-in-plasma-chugging-along/

Multipass 1.16 Released: 05/07/2025 Canonical has released version 1.16 of the multipass toolkit, designed to simplify the installation of various versions of Ubuntu in virtual machines running on Linux, Windows, and macOS virtualization systems. The release is notable for the complete open source nature of the project's codebase - the repository includes code for components for Windows and macOS, which had not previously been publicly distributed. The project code is written in C++ and is distributed under the GPLv3 license. A snap package has been prepared for quick installation of multipass in Ubuntu. Multipass allows a developer to launch the desired version of Ubuntu in a virtual machine with one command without additional settings, for example, for experiments or testing their application. To launch a virtual machine in Linux, KVM or VirtualBox is used, in Windows - Hyper-V, and in macOS - HyperKit. The following distributions are supported: Arch Linux, CentOS, Debian, elementary OS, Fedora, KDE Neon, Kubuntu, Manjaro, Pop!_OS, openSUSE, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi OS. The toolkit automatically extracts the required operating system image and keeps it up to date. Cloud-init can be used for configuration. You can both mount disk partitions in a virtual environment and transfer individual files between the host system and the virtual machine. Full integration of the installed virtual machine with the main desktop is supported (application icons, a system menu, and notifications are added). https://github.com/canonical/multipass/releases/tag/v1.16.0

Release of 7-Zip 25.00: 06/07/2025 Igor Pavlov announced a new version of the 7-Zip archiver v25.00. The project develops its own 7z archive format based on the LZMA and LZMA2 compression algorithms. Additionally, it supports packing and unpacking archives in XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM formats, as well as unpacking more than 30 archive formats, packages, virtual machine images and file systems (ISO, NTFS, EXT*, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VMDK, CAB, RPM, SquashFS, QCOW2, etc.). For ZIP and GZIP formats, a 2-10% higher compression level is provided compared to PKZip and WinZip. The project code is written in C++ and is distributed under the LGPL license. Ready-made builds for Windows, macOS and Linux (i686, x86-64, ARM, ARM64) are available for download . https://sourceforge.net/p/sevenzip/discussion/45797/thread/4ed0e379f4/

Bash 5.3 Shell Released: 06/07/2025 After almost three years of development, a new version of the GNU Bash 5.3 command interpreter, used by default in most Linux distributions, has been published. At the same time, the readline 8.3 library, used in bash for command line editing, has been released. Key improvements include: New command substitution forms “${ command; }” and “${|command;}” are implemented, allowing you to intercept the command output without forking a separate child process and without using unnamed pipes. The results of command execution are given as the result of substitution or written to the REPLY variable. https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2025-07/msg00005.html

Release of Brushshe 2.0.0: 06/07/2025 The release of the lightweight raster graphics editor Brushshe 2.0.0 is available. The editor supports stickers, frames and effects, saving in different formats, using your own palettes and navigating through the gallery of drawings. The project code is written in Python using the Custom Tkinter graphical toolkit and is distributed under the GNU GPLv3 license. Ready-made builds are formed for Windows and Linux. https://github.com/limafresh/Brushshe/releases/tag/v2.0.0-skopjeS

Wayland 1.24 is available: 07/07/2025 After 13 months of development, the stable release of the Wayland 1.24 protocol, interprocess communication mechanism, and libraries has been released. The 1.24 branch is backwards compatible at the API and ABI level with the 1.x releases and contains mainly bug fixes and minor protocol updates. The project's code is distributed under the MIT license. The Weston reference composite server, which provides code and working examples for using Wayland in desktop environments and embedded solutions, is being developed as part of a separate development cycle. https://lore.freedesktop.org/wayland-devel/plU5smxin5VXbiedTGtL7CNHe0t2mHtgQlQ3-xwREmSSNYaClAcZpEBV8L7JvMT8JHwdD_a_uSFkDUaP45CAWyL545iZh5gInAdToX6hgt4%3D@emersion.fr/

Windows Server update breaking Samba compatibility: 07/07/2025 Samba 4.22.3 and 4.21.7 have been released as unscheduled updates to address an issue where Samba servers are no longer compatible with the next Windows Server update. If these patches are not installed, Samba servers will not be able to function as members of Windows Active Directory domains if the AD back-end is enabled in the user ID mapping settings. Microsoft has scheduled updates for supported versions of Windows Server to be released on July 8 that will address security issues in the Active Directory domain controller implementation. The update will make changes to the Microsoft RPC Netlogon protocol in all supported versions of Windows Server, including Windows Server 2008, to add additional access checks to some RPC calls. The extended checks were previously only implemented in Windows Server 2025, but will be implemented in other versions starting July 8. https://www.mail-archive.com/samba-announce@lists.samba.org/msg00669.html

Release of OBS Studio 31.1: 08/07/2025 After six months of development, OBS Studio 31.1, a package for streaming, composing and recording video, has been released. The code is written in C/C++ and is distributed under the GPLv2 license. Builds are available for Linux, Windows and macOS. Compositing support is provided with scene construction based on arbitrary video streams, data from web cameras, video capture cards, images, text, application window contents or the entire screen. During broadcasting, switching between several predefined scene options is allowed (for example, to switch views with an emphasis on screen content and web camera image). The program also provides tools for audio mixing, filtering using VST plugins, volume leveling and noise suppression. https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/releases/tag/31.1.0

Ardour moving to a fork of YTK: 08/07/2025 The developers of the Ardour audio editor have removed support for building with the GTK2 library from the codebase, leaving only the ability to use YTK. YTK is a fork of GTK2 created by the Ardour project in February 2024. The reason for stopping building with GTK2 is the addition of additional functionality to YTK, providing support for touch input devices and the ability to render on the macOS platform. Initially, YTK was just a copy of GTK2, integrated into the Ardour repository to simplify maintenance. Changes to the codebase were limited to fixing bugs and cleaning up features not used in Ardour. At the same time, YTK was used only as an option for building Ardour in distributions that stopped supporting GTK2, and the default was to continue building with GTK2. In February, YTK began adding additional functionality not found in GTK2, and the build scripts in the experimental Ardour branch, which forms the basis for the Ardour 9.0 release, were switched to YTK by default. A few days ago, support for GTK2 was removed. Like GTK2, YTK only supports X11 and requires XWayland to run in Wayland-based environments. https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/commit/99c1f50a72d513ba9e7f678401d51e8bb0f8912e

Amarok 3.3 Released: 08/07/2025 After six months of development, the Amarok 3.3.0 music player, has been released. After the release of KDE 5, the project was abandoned, but last year it was revived and ported to Qt5/Qt6 and KDE Frameworks 5/6 libraries. The project code is written in C++ and is distributed under the GPLv2 license. Amarok provides a three-panel mode for displaying information (collection, current track and playlist), allows you to navigate through your music collection, tags and individual directories, supports dynamic playlists and quick creation of your own playlists, can automatically generate recommendations, statistics and ratings of popular tracks, supports downloading song lyrics, covers and informational references about tracks from various services, makes it possible to automate actions by writing scripts. The new version completes porting to Qt 6 and KDE Frameworks 6. Removed Qt5 support. Updated database schema, resolving encoding issues. Implemented GStreamer-based audio backend, supporting additional features missing in phonon-vlc backend available for Qt6. Improved code for scanning music collections. https://github.com/KDE/amarok/releases/tag/v3.3.0

Release of miracle-wm 0.6: 09/07/2025 Matthew Kosarek, a developer from Canonical, has released the miracle-wm 0.6 compositing manager, which uses the Wayland protocol and Mir compositing manager building components. Miracle-wm supports tiling window layout, similar to the i3 and Sway projects. Waybar can be used as a panel. The project code is written in C++ and is distributed under the GPLv3 license. Ready-made builds are available in the snap format, as well as in deb packages, for Ubuntu. The goal of miracle-wm is to create a composite server that uses tiled window management, but is more functional and stylish than products like Swayfx. At the same time, the project allows you to use classic techniques for working with floating windows, such as placing individual windows on top of a tiled grid or pinning windows to a specific place on the desktop. Virtual desktops are supported with the ability to set a default window mode for each desktop (tiled layout or floating windows). The configuration is defined in YAML format. To install miracle-wm, you can use the command “sudo snap install miracle-wm –classic”. https://github.com/mattkae/miracle-wm/releases/tag/v0.6.0

Suricata 8.0 now available: 09/07/2025 After two years of development, the OISF (Open Information Security Foundation) has released the Suricata 8.0 network intrusion detection and prevention system, which provides tools for inspecting various types of traffic. Suricata configurations allow the use of the signature database developed by the Snort project, as well as the Emerging Threats and Emerging Threats Pro rule sets. The project's source code is distributed under the GPLv2 license. https://suricata.io/2025/07/08/suricata-8-0-0-released/

KWin developer declares alternative X Servers undesirable in KDE: 10/07/2025 The KDE Community wiki has added alternative X.org implementations such as XLibre to the unwanted packages section. According to the note, only the official X.Org Server and XWayland will be supported to provide a KDE session on X11. The note was added by Xaver Hugl, one of the key developers of the Kwin compositing manager and the second-largest committer since 2020. Before this, the XLibre project considered KDE a supported desktop environment. https://community.kde.org/index.php?title%3DDistributions/Packaging_Recommendations%26diff%3Dprev%26oldid%3D103702

Alt Linux Virtualization 11.0 distribution: 11/07/2025 The Alt Linux Virtualization 11.0 distribution, based on ALT Linux 11, has been released. The distribution is intended for use on servers and for implementing virtualization functions in corporate infrastructure. The builds are prepared for the x86_64 and AArch64 platforms. The product is supplied under a License Agreement which provides the opportunity for free use by individuals, but legal entities are only allowed to test and it is necessary to purchase a commercial license or conclude a license agreement in writing for usage. Starting with the eleventh version, the distribution is released in two editions - virtualization-pve and virtualization-one, based on the Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE) and OpenNebula platforms. At the moment, only the PVE edition is available for download, which uses the tools supplied by the Proxmox VE distribution and is designed to manage virtual machines and containers using the KVM hypervisor and LXC tools (the Kubernetes, Docker, CRI-O and Podman containerization tools have been transferred to the Alt Server distribution). https://lists-altlinux-org.translate.goog/pipermail/altlinux-announce-ru/2025/000058.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://freshcode.club/projects/altlinux

Release of labwc 0.9.0: 12/07/2025 The labwc 0.9.0 (Lab Wayland Compositor) project has been released. It develops a composite server for Wayland with capabilities reminiscent of the Openbox window manager (the project is presented as an attempt to create an Openbox alternative for Wayland). Among the features of labwc, minimalism, compact implementation, wide customization options, and high performance are mentioned. Animated effects, gradients, and icons, with the exception of window buttons, are not supported in principle. The project code is written in C and is distributed under the GPLv2 license. In addition to the built-in root menu, which is configurable via the menu.xml file, you can connect third-party implementations of the application menu, such as bemenu , fuzzel and wofi. Waybar , sfwbar, Yambar or LavaLauncher can be used as a panel. To manage the connection of monitors and change their parameters, they suggest you use wlr-randr or kanshi. The screen is locked using swaylock. The composite manager is used in the graphical environment of the Raspberry Pi OS distribution and is optionally supported in the Xfce and LXQt desktop environments. https://github.com/labwc/labwc/releases/tag/0.9.0

KDE improves day/night theme switching settings: 12/07/2025 Nate Graham, a quality assurance developer for the KDE project, has published the latest KDE development report. Among the recent changes to the code base that will form the upcoming KDE Plasma 6.5 release: With the new feature to automatically change wallpapers between their light and dark versions, there’s now more than one feature that makes use of the day/night cycle. Accordingly, the place where you configure your location so the system knows what sunrise and sunset timings to use has been moved out of the Night Light page in System Settings and onto its own page. The cycle you set up here will be used for both Night Light and automatic wallpaper switching, and later for automatic theme or color scheme switching too, once either of those are finalized. https://blogs.kde.org/2025/07/12/this-week-in-plasma-tablet-dials-and-day/night-cycles/

NixOS maintainers have dropped support for XLibre: 13/07/2025 During the discussion of the prospect of adding XLibre support to NixOS, the maintainers considered the proposals to supply alternative packages with the X server to be inappropriate. The reasons cited include possible changes to the XLibre ABI, the increased workload on the NixOS maintainers who would be forced to test two server variants, and difficulties in interacting with those responsible for XLibre, whose views make themselves known far more often than is necessary for conducting technical discussions. The low quality of the changes introduced in the fork was also mentioned separately. NixOS users are offered an alternative to use the overlay mechanism, which allows replacing the original X.Org Server with any other package, including XLibre. In this case, the user is responsible for eliminating any problems that may arise on their system. The status of XLibre support in other distributions can be found on the “Are We XLibre Yet” page, which is periodically updated by the authors of the fork. https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/419940

DRI2 support removed from Mesa: 13/07/2025 The code base on which the Mesa 25.2 release is based has removed support for the DRI2 ( Direct Rendering Infrastructure ), which has been replaced by the DRI3 interface for direct access to the video adapter, using DMA-BUF. The reason given is that the DRI3 interface has existed for over 10 years, DRI2 has long been outdated, and all supported GPU drivers have long implemented the DRI3 interface. In Mesa 24.2, the use of DRI2 was already hidden behind the “legacy-x11” option, and for a year this has not caused any special questions. You can note that in the future Mesa plans to get rid of support for other mechanisms that have become obsolete after the appearance of DMA-BUF. In particular, they plan to stop supporting the EGL extension EGL_WL_bind_wayland_display, implemented for Wayland. To exchange pixel buffers between the Wayland client and server, they propose to use the Wayland protocol linux_dmabuf. Support for EGL_WL_bind_wayland_display is planned to be disabled by default and activated only when specifying the “legacy-wayland” build flag, thereafter it will be removed after several releases. https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/merge_requests/35885

NethServer 8.5: 13/07/2025 NethServer 8.5, a platform for deploying server applications infrastructure in isolated containers, using a cluster of local or cloud servers, is available. NethServer is positioned as a simple platform for organizing containers for SME system administrators, who do not want to associate with complicated tools such as Kubernetes. Before the 8.x line, the project developed its own distribution for the rapid deployment of typical servers, based on CentOS, and starting with the release of NethServer 8, it is transformed into a universal platform installed on top of Rocky Linux 9, CentOS Stream 9, AlmaLinux 9 and Debian 12. Applications in containers can be run on different hosts and managed through one centralized web interface. Installation and commissioning of selected server components is made in one click and does not require knowledge of the features of the configuration of each service. https://community.nethserver.org/t/nethserver-project-milestone-8-5/26008

A Linux version of the Lossless Scaling Frame Generation utility: 14/07/2025 The lsfg-vk project has prepared an unofficial port of the Lossless Scalings Frame Generation (LSFG) utility for Linux, using DXVK and the Vulkan graphics API. The project code is written in C++ and is licensed under the MIT license. The development was carried out by a third-party enthusiast who recreated the functionality of the proprietary LSFG by reverse engineering Windows libraries. The application allows you to scale the output of games designed to run in windowed mode to display them in full-screen mode. The utility may also be needed to get rid of blurry output when scaling using the standard graphics subsystem or to bypass restrictions in games tied to fixed screen resolutions. You can also increase the smoothness of the output and increase the frame rate in games not designed for high FPS by substituting additional intermediate frames created based on the interpolation of adjacent frames. There is more to come soon in this project. https://github.com/PancakeTAS/lsfg-vk

Release of Parrot 6.4: 15/07/2025 The release of Parrot 6.4 has been published. It is based on Debian 12 and includes a selection of tools for security auditing, conducting forensic analysis and reverse engineering. Live builds with the MATE environment, images for virtual machines, container images in Docker format and builds for Raspberry Pi boards are offered for download. There is also a script offered that allows you to create a Parrot environment on top of an already installed Debian distribution. The distribution is positioned as a portable laboratory with an environment for security and forensic experts, focusing on tools for testing cloud systems and IOT devices. The release also includes cryptographic tools and programs for providing secure access to a network, like TOR, I2P, anonsurf, gpg, tccf (Two Cents Cryptography Frontend), zulucrypt, veracrypt, truecrypt and luks. https://www.parrotsec.org/blog/2025-07-07-parrot-6.4-release-notes/

The OpenCut project: 15/07/2025 The OpenCut project attempts to develop a simple video editor positioned as an open alternative to CapCut from ByteDance(TikTok). The project code is written in TypeScript using the Bun platform and is distributed under the MIT license. The build is supported as a desktop application, a mobile application, and a web version. The advantages of the new project include concerns for user privacy (videos are edited on the local system and are not transmitted anywhere) and free distribution, which does not require purchasing individual features or a paid subscription to disable a watermark. Features include: video editing based on the timeline, real-time preview and multi-track editing. The project was originally created under the name AppCut, but was then renamed OpenCut. The developers will probably be forced to rename the program again, as the project has been sued for violating the OpenCut trademark, registered last year and already used in the online video editor of the same name. https://opencut.app/

PHP Moves to GPL-Compatible BSD-3 License: 15/07/2025 The developers of the PHP programming language plan to transfer the PHP interpreter and Zend Engine from the PHP License and Zend Engine License to the 3-clause BSD license (BSD-3). The transition to the BSD-3 license will simplify licensing terms, unify licenses for PHP and Zend Engine, ensure compatibility with the GPL and solve long-standing problems, while preserving all the rights of users and developers. The license change is intended to be made in the release of PHP 9.0, which may be out next year. All members of the PHP Group approved the license change and this proposal is currently up for general discussion. The transition to the BSD-3 license requires approval from Perforce Software, which owns Zend Technologies. It is noted that the issue of changing the license has already been informally agreed upon with Perforce and it only remains to receive official legally significant written confirmation. At the same time, changing the license will not require obtaining separate consent from each developer, since the text of the PHP and Zend licenses defines the powers that allow PHP Group to make changes to the license and release new versions of the license. The process of switching to a new license will be formalized as an update of the code to versions PHP License v4 and Zend Engine License v3, where the wording will coincide with the wording of the BSD-3 license. https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/127984

Audacious 4.5: 16/07/2025 The release of the lightweight music player Audacious 4.5 is presented. It was forked from the Beep Media Player (BMP) project, which is a fork of the classic XMMS player. The release comes with two user interfaces: based on GTK and Qt. Ready-made builds will soon be prepared for various Linux distributions (snap, flatpak, PPA) and for Windows . https://audacious-media-player.org/news/62-audacious-4-5-released

Development of KDE Plasma Bigscreen has resumed: 16/07/2025 Devin Lin has announced the continuation of the Plasma Bigscreen project, which develops a user interface based on KDE technologies, designed for use on multimedia devices connected to TVs and projectors. The environment is optimized for working with large screens and control without a keyboard using remote controls or a voice assistant. The project was last actively developed in 2020, after which it fell into stagnation and was not included in KDE Plasma 6, as it was not transferred to use the KDE 6 and Qt 6 libraries and was tied to the defunct Mycroft voice assistant. A couple of months ago, several developers decided to revive the project and carried out work on modernizing the interface and refining the configurator. The publication of packages with Plasma Bigscreen is planned to be established starting with the release of Plasma 6.5. Until then, you can use the Plasma Bigscreen build script for postmarketOS or the plasma-bigscreen package for the Arch Linux distribution from the nightly and AUR repositories. https://espi.dev/posts/2025/07/plasma-bigscreen/

Release of Hyprland 0.50: 16/07/2025 The Hyprland 0.50 composite server is available, using the Wayland protocol. The project is focused on tiling window layout, but also supports classic arbitrary window placement, grouping of windows in the form of tabs, pseudo-mosaic mode and full-screen windowing. The code is written in C++ and is distributed under the BSD license. The possibilities for creating visually attractive interfaces are provided: gradients in window frames, background blur, animation effects and shadows. Plugins can be connected to expand functionality, and socket-based IPC is provided for external control. Configuration is carried out through a configuration file, changes are picked up on the fly without restarting. https://hyprland.org/news/update50/

Linux adoption on the rise: 17/07/2025 According to the StatCounter service, which monitors global statistics on web browser usage, the share of Linux distributions in the US (5.03%) and Germany (5.47%) exceeded the 5% mark for the first time. The statistics were collected based on a counter placed on 1.5 million sites. In India, the share of Linux has dropped to 8.77% (it was 17.25% in September last year). The global share of Linux is estimated at 4.1% (the peak value of 4.55% was reached in August last year). Since September 2024, there has also been a decline in the popularity of ChromeOS, whose global share has dropped from 2.25% to 1.24%, and its share in the US from 5.53% to 2.71%. https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/07/16/2048246/linux-reaches-5-on-desktop

Cozystack 0.33 Released: 17/07/2025 The release of the free PaaS platform Cozystack 0.33, built on Kubernetes, is available. The project aims to provide a ready-made platform for hosting providers and a framework for building private and public clouds. The platform is installed directly on servers and covers all aspects of preparing the infrastructure for providing managed services. Cozystack allows you to launch and provide Kubernetes clusters, databases, and virtual machines. The platform code is available on GitHub and is distributed under the Apache-2.0 license. Talos Linux and Flux CD are used as the basic technology stack. Images with the system, kernel and necessary modules are generated in advance and updated atomically, which eliminates the need for components such as dkms and a package manager and guarantees stable operation. A simple installation method is provided in an empty data center using PXE and a debian-like installer talos-bootstrap. You can deploy Kafka, FerretDB, PostgreSQL, Cilium, Grafana, Victoria Metrics and other services with a click. The platform includes a free implementation of the network infrastructure (fabric) based on Kube-OVN, and uses Cilium for the service network, MetalLB to announce services to the outside. The storage is implemented on LINSTOR, which suggests using ZFS as a base layer for storage and DRBD for replication. There is a pre-configured monitoring stack based on VictoriaMetrics and Grafana. To launch virtual machines, KubeVirt technology is used, which allows you to launch classic virtual machines directly in Kubernetes containers and already has all the necessary integrations with the Cluster API to launch managed Kubernetes clusters inside a “hardware” Kubernetes cluster. https://blog.aenix.io/cozystack-v0-31-0-33-ae241c739b23

Blender 4.5: 17/07/2025 The Blender Foundation has released Blender 4.5, a free application suitable for a variety of tasks related to 3D modeling, 3D graphics, computer game development, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, sculpting, animation and video editing. The code is distributed under the GPL license. Ready-made builds are available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. The release is tagged as LTS and will be supported until July 2027. The Blender 4.2 LTS branch also continues to be supported, with updates being generated until July 2026. Support for the Blender 3.6 LTS branch has been discontinued. https://www.blender.org/press/blender-4-5-lts-release/

Forgejo 12.0: 18/07/2025 The release of the Forgejo 12.0 collaborative development platform has been published. It allows you to deploy a system for collaborative work with Git repositories on your servers, similar in its tasks to GitHub, Bitbucket, and Gitlab. Forgejo is a fork of the Gitea project, which in turn forked from the Gogs platform, back in 2022, after attempts to commercialize Gitea and the transfer of control to a commercial company. The Forgejo project adheres to the principles of independent management and community control. Git hosting Codeberg.org has switched to using Forgejo. The project code is written in Go and is distributed under the GPLv3 license. The key features of the platform are low resource consumption (can be used on a Raspberry Pi board or in cheap VPS) and a simple installation process. It provides typical project capabilities, such as task management, issue tracking, pull requests, wiki, tools for coordinating developer groups, preparing releases, automating package placement in repositories, managing access rights, interfacing with continuous integration platforms, code search, authentication via LDAP and OAuth, access to the repository via SSH and HTTP/HTTPS protocols, connecting web hooks for integration with Slack, Discord and other services. It has support for Git hooks and Git LFS, tools for migrating and mirroring repositories. The ability to use the ActivityPub protocol to unite individual developer servers into a federated network is highlighted separately. https://forgejo.org/2025-07-release-v12-0/

Intel has stopped developing Clear Linux: 19/07/2025 Intel has announced the closure of the Clear Linux project, which develops a distribution with strict application isolation implemented using containers separated using full virtualization. Starting today, Intel will stop supporting it and will no longer release updates and patches to eliminate vulnerabilities. The GitHub repositories where the distribution was developed will soon be transferred to archive mode. Clear Linux users are advised to migrate their systems to other distributions. It is noted that Intel will continue to actively support the Linux ecosystem and participate in the development of various open projects and Linux distributions to add support for its equipment and optimize work with it. Sadly, it is assumed that Intel employees involved in the development of Clear Linux are subject to mass layoffs, during which the company's staff will be reduced by 5 thousand people. https://community.clearlinux.org/t/all-good-things-come-to-an-end-shutting-down-clear-linux-os/10716

KDE switched to rendering windows with rounded corners: 19/07/2025 Nate Graham, a quality assurance developer for the KDE project, has published the latest KDE development report. The most significant change accepted into the KDE Plasma 6.5 branch, scheduled for release on October 16, is a significant change in the visual style. When using the Breeze theme, windows are now rendered in KWin with rounded bottom corners (previously only the top corners were rounded, while the bottom ones remained sharp). The new window style is offered by default, but can be disabled in the settings if desired. https://blogs.kde.org/2025/07/19/this-week-in-plasma-rounded-bottom-corners/

DXVK-Sarek 1.11.0 released: 20/07/2025 The DXVK-Sarek 1.11.0 project has been released, developing a fork of the DXVK layer, aimed at working on systems with GPUs or drivers limited to support of older versions of the Vulkan graphics API - 1.1 or 1.2. In the main DXVK project, support for Vulkan 1.3 became mandatory in the DXVK 2.0 release. DXVK-Sarek continues to use the codebase of the DXVK 1.10.x branch (the last branch of the DXVK 1.x series), which carries over changes related to game support and bug fixes from new DXVK releases. In parallel, the project is supported by a fork Proton-Sarek, that develops a version of the Proton package(based on GE-Proton 10 and Proton 10-beta) for running Windows games for devices and systems without Vulkan 1.3 support. Additionally, it is worth noting the adoption of a large portion of fixes for older AMD Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000 GPUs, preceding the HD 5000 Evergreen family GPUs, into the Mesa code base, on which release 25.2 is based. One of the fixes made it possible to establish the passage of about 120 tests from the Piglit package, aimed at identifying regressions in OpenGL support. https://github.com/pythonlover02/DXVK-Sarek/releases/tag/v1.11.0